Labyrinthum capellae. Le "Annotationes in Marcianum" di Giovanni Scoto Eriugena e la fortuna del neoplatonismo cristiano

The labyrinthum Capella quoted in the title (from a Prudentius of Troyes epistle) represents the allegory of the studium of the liberal arts and the looking for knowledge in the early middle age. This is a capital problem in the early Christianity and, in general, for all the western world, concerning the relationship between faith and science. I studied the evolution of this subject from its birth to Carolingian age, focusing on the most relevant figures, for the western Europe, such Saint Augustine (De doctrina christiana), Martianus Capella (De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii) and Iohannes Scotus Eriugena (Annotationes in Marcianum). Clearly it emerges that there were two opposite ways about this relatioship. According to the first, the human being is capable of get a knowledge about God thanks to its own reason and logical thought processes (by the analysis of the nature as a Speculum Dei); on the other way, only the faith and the grace could give the man the possibility to perceive God, and the Bible is the only book men need to know. From late antiquity to Iohannes Scotus times, a few christian and pagan authors fall into line with first position (the neoplatonic one): Saint Augustine (first part of his life, then he retracted some of his views), Martianus, Calcidius and Macrobius. Other philosophers were not neoplatonic bat believed in the power of the studium: Boethius, Cassiodorus, Isidorus of Seville, Hrabanus Maurus and Lupus of Ferriéres. In order to get an idea of this conception, I finally focused the research on Iohannes Scotus Eriugena's Annotationes in Marcianum. I commented Eriugena's work phrase by phrase trying to catch the sense of his words, the reference, philosophical influences, to trace antecedents and its clouts to later middle age and Chartres school. In this scholastic text Eriugena comments the Capella's work and poses again the question of the studium to his students. Iohannes was a magister in schola Palatina during the time of Carl the Bald, he knew Saint Augustine works, and he knew Boethius, Calcidius, Macrobius, Isidorus and Cassiodorus ones too. He translated Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor. He had a neoplatonic view of Christianity and tried to harmonize the impossibility to know God to man's intellectual capability to get a glimpse of God through the study of the nature. According to this point of view, Eriugena's comment of Martianus Capella was no more a secondary work. It gets more and more importance to understand his research and his mystic, and to understand and really grasp the inner sense of his chief work Periphyseon.

Scienza, Tecnica, Politica: Il Problema del Metodo nel Pensiero di Jacopo Aconcio

The aim of this PhD thesis is to study accurately and in depth the figure and the literary production of the intellectual Jacopo Aconcio. This minor author of the 16th century has long been considered a sort of “enigmatic character”, a profile which results from the work of those who, for many centuries, have left his writing to its fate: a story of constant re-readings and equally incessant oversights. This is why it is necessary to re-read Aconcio’s production in its entirety and to devote to it a monographic study. Previous scholars’ interpretations will obviously be considered, but at the same time an effort will be made to go beyond them through the analysis of both published and manuscript sources, in the attempt to attain a deeper understanding of the figure of this man, who was a Christian, a military and hydraulic engineer and a political philosopher,. The title of the thesis was chosen to emphasise how, throughout the three years of the doctorate, my research concentrated in equal measure and with the same degree of importance on all the reflections and activities of Jacopo Aconcio. My object, in fact, was to establish how and to what extent the methodological thinking of the intellectual found application in, and at the same time guided, his theoretical and practical production. I did not mention in the title the author’s religious thinking, which has always been considered by everyone the most original and interesting element of his production, because religion, from the Reformation onwards, was primarily a political question and thus it was treated by almost all the authors involved in the Protestant movement - Aconcio in the first place. Even the remarks concerning the private, intimate sphere of faith have therefore been analysed in this light: only by acknowledging the centrality of the “problem of politics” in Aconcio’s theories, in fact, is it possible to interpret them correctly. This approach proves the truth of the theoretical premise to my research, that is to say the unity and orderliness of the author’s thought: in every field of knowledge, Aconcio applies the rules of the methodus resolutiva, as a means to achieve knowledge and elaborate models of pacific cohabitation in society. Aconcio’s continuous references to method can make his writing pedant and rather complex, but at the same time they allow for a consistent and valid analysis of different disciplines. I have not considered the fact that most of his reflections appear to our eyes as strongly conditioned by the time in which he lived as a limit. To see in him, as some have done, the forerunner of Descartes’ methodological discourse or, conversely, to judge his religious theories as not very modern, is to force the thought of an author who was first and foremost a Christian man of his own time. Aconcio repeats this himself several times in his writings: he wants to provide individuals with the necessary tools to reach a full-fledged scientific knowledge in the various fields, and also to enable them to seek truth incessantly in the religious domain, which is the duty of every human being. The will to find rules, instruments, effective solutions characterizes the whole of the author’s corpus: Aconcio feels he must look for truth in all the arts, aware as he is that anything can become science as long as it is analysed with method. Nevertheless, he remains a man of his own time, a Christian convinced of the existence of God, creator and governor of the world, to whom people must account for their own actions. To neglect this fact in order to construct a “character”, a generic forerunner, but not participant, of whatever philosophical current, is a dangerous and sidetracking operation. In this study, I have highlighted how Aconcio’s arguments only reveal their full meaning when read in the context in which they were born, without depriving them of their originality but also without charging them with meanings they do not possess. Through a historical-doctrinal approach, I have tried to analyse the complex web of theories and events which constitute the substratum of Aconcio’s reflection, in order to trace the correct relations between texts and contexts. The thesis is therefore organised in six chapters, dedicated respectively to Aconcio’s biography, to the methodological question, to the author’s engineering activity, to his historical knowledge and to his religious thinking, followed by a last section concerning his fortune throughout the centuries. The above-mentioned complexity is determined by the special historical moment in which the author lived. On the one hand, thanks to the new union between science and technique, the 16th century produces discoveries and inventions which make available a previously unthinkable number of notions and lead to a “revolution” in the way of studying and teaching the different subjects, which, by producing a new form of intellectual, involved in politics but also aware of scientific-technological issues, will contribute to the subsequent birth of modern science. On the other, the 16th century is ravaged by religious conflicts, which shatter the unity of the Christian world and generate theological-political disputes which will inform the history of European states for many decades. My aim is to show how Aconcio’s multifarious activity is the conscious fruit of this historical and religious situation, as well as the attempt of an answer to the request of a new kind of engagement on the intellectual’s behalf. Plunged in the discussions around methodus, employed in the most important European courts, involved in the abrupt acceleration of technical-scientific activities, and especially concerned by the radical religious reformation brought on by the Protestant movement, Jacopo Aconcio reflects this complex conjunction in his writings, without lacking in order and consistency, differently from what many scholars assume. The object of this work, therefore, is to highlight the unity of the author’s thought, in which science, technique, faith and politics are woven into a combination which, although it may appear illogical and confused, is actually tidy and methodical, and therefore in agreement with Aconcio’s own intentions and with the specific characters of European culture in the Renaissance. This theory is confirmed by the reading of the Ars muniendorum oppidorum, Aconcio’s only work which had been up till now unavailable. I am persuaded that only a methodical reading of Aconcio’s works, without forgetting nor glorifying any single one, respects the author’s will. From De methodo (1558) onwards, all his writings are summae, guides for the reader who wishes to approach the study of the various disciplines. Undoubtedly, Satan’s Stratagems (1565) is something more, not only because of its length, but because it deals with the author’s main interest: the celebration of doubt and debate as bases on which to build religious tolerance, which is the best method for pacific cohabitation in society. This, however, does not justify the total centrality which the Stratagems have enjoyed for centuries, at the expense of a proper understanding of the author’s will to offer examples of methodological rigour in all sciences. Maybe it is precisely because of the reforming power of Aconcio’s thought that, albeit often forgotten throughout the centuries, he has never ceased to reappear and continues to draw attention, both as a man and as an author. His ideas never stop stimulating the reader’s curiosity and this may ultimately be the best demonstration of their worth, independently from the historical moment in which they come back to the surface.

Use of VEGFR-2 targeted microbubbles (BR55, Bracco imaging) for the early ultrasound evaluation of response to antiangiogenic treatment in a xenograft model of hepatocarcinoma

Aim: To evaluate the early response to treatment to an antiangiogenetic drug (sorafenib) in a heterotopic murine model of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using ultrasonographic molecular imaging. Material and Methods: the xenographt model was established injecting a suspension of HuH7 cells subcutaneously in 19 nude mice. When tumors reached a mean diameter of 5-10 mm, they were divided in two groups (treatment and vehicle). The treatment group received sorafenib (62 mg/kg) by daily oral gavage for 14 days. Molecular imaging was performed using contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), by injecting into the mouse venous circulation a suspension of VEGFR-2 targeted microbubbles (BR55, kind gift of Bracco Swiss, Geneve, Switzerland). Video clips were acquired for 6 minutes, then microbubbles (MBs) were destroyed by a high mechanical index (MI) impulse, and another minute was recorded to evaluate residual circulating MBs. The US protocol was repeated at day 0,+2,+4,+7, and +14 from the beginning of treatment administration. Video clips were analyzed using a dedicated software (Sonotumor, Bracco Swiss) to quantify the signal of the contrast agent. Time/intensity curves were obtained and the difference of the mean MBs signal before and after high MI impulse (Differential Targeted Enhancement-dTE) was calculated. dTE represents a numeric value in arbitrary units proportional to the amount of bound MBs. At day +14 mice were euthanized and the tumors analyzed for VEGFR-2, pERK, and CD31 tissue levels using western blot analysis. Results: dTE values decreased from day 0 to day +14 both in treatment and vehicle groups, and they were statistically higher in vehicle group than in treatment group at day +2, at day +7, and at day +14. With respect to the degree of tumor volume increase, measured as growth percentage delta (GPD), treatment group was divided in two sub-groups, non-responders (GPD>350%), and responders (GPD<200%). In the same way vehicle group was divided in slow growth group (GPD<400%), and fast growth group (GPD>900%). dTE values at day 0 (immediately before treatment start) were higher in non-responders than in responders group, with statistical difference at day 2. While dTE values were higher in the fast growth group than in the slow growth group only at day 0. A significant positive correlation was found between VEGFR-2 tissue levels and dTE values, confirming that level of BR55 tissue enhancement reflects the amount of tissue VEGF receptor. Conclusions: the present findings show that, at least in murine experimental models, CEUS with BR55 is feasable and appears to be a useful tool in the prediction of tumor growth and response to sorafenib treatment in xenograft HCC.

Non Invasive Tools for Early Detection of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) describe a set of neurodevelopmental disorders. ASD represents a significant public health problem. Currently, ASDs are not diagnosed before the 2nd year of life but an early identification of ASDs would be crucial as interventions are much more effective than specific therapies starting in later childhood. To this aim, cheap an contact-less automatic approaches recently aroused great clinical interest. Among them, the cry and the movements of the newborn, both involving the central nervous system, are proposed as possible indicators of neurological disorders. This PhD work is a first step towards solving this challenging problem. An integrated system is presented enabling the recording of audio (crying) and video (movements) data of the newborn, their automatic analysis with innovative techniques for the extraction of clinically relevant parameters and their classification with data mining techniques. New robust algorithms were developed for the selection of the voiced parts of the cry signal, the estimation of acoustic parameters based on the wavelet transform and the analysis of the infant’s general movements (GMs) through a new body model for segmentation and 2D reconstruction. In addition to a thorough literature review this thesis presents the state of the art on these topics that shows that no studies exist concerning normative ranges for newborn infant cry in the first 6 months of life nor the correlation between cry and movements. Through the new automatic methods a population of control infants (“low-risk”, LR) was compared to a group of “high-risk” (HR) infants, i.e. siblings of children already diagnosed with ASD. A subset of LR infants clinically diagnosed as newborns with Typical Development (TD) and one affected by ASD were compared. The results show that the selected acoustic parameters allow good differentiation between the two groups. This result provides new perspectives both diagnostic and therapeutic.